PeroSeminar | 09 April 2026

Post-synthetic oxidative etching of gold nanorods is a versatile approach to tune plasmonic properties and catalytic activity, yet the role of polymer ligands beyond simple steric stabilization remains poorly understood. We show that end-grafted polystyrene not only provides steric stabilization but also regulates etchant transport and directs site-selective Au removal. It is shown that polymer-capped, penta-twinned nanorods develop corrugated surfaces, and that tuning the polymer molecular weight and grafting density enables precise control over both surface corrugation and plasmon resonance. These findings establish polymer brushes as active modulators for defect-directed nanoengineering of plasmonic nanoparticles with potential applications in catalysis, sensing, and photonics.